shriners hospitals for children

J.J. Henry shoots 60 to take the first round lead of the Shriners Hospitals for Children event at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.

J.J. Henry / Getty Images

Ronald “J.J.” shot an amazing bogey free -11 under par 60 to top the leaderboard in the first round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children competition, making an Eagle 3 putt of 50 feet on the par 5 ninth hole, his last of the day. He said it was just one of those days;

“It was one of those days, there wasn’t much wind and the greens were pretty soft. It was nice to make that putt on the last hole to make lunch taste that much better. I played solid on the front nine. It’s still pretty cold in the morning, I was just trying to get my feet wet and shoot a couple under par. Any time you start with the round I had, it gives you a lot of confidence for the rest of the week. I thought it was important to get myself off to a good start.I finally made some putts, I’ve always felt like I’ve been a pretty good ball-striker, and when I make some putts I seem to climb the board.”

Just one shot back on -10 under par, following his opening round 61 is Andres Romero. He said he had stayed focused on his golf game;

” I was focused on my game and I was trying to do my job, and that’s all. I feel very good and focused on the game and on every shot. So I wasn’t paying attention to the leaderboard and the other guys.”

Tied in third place are James Driscoll, Jonathan Byrdand Jeff Overton, at -8 under par after their first rounds of 63.

Jameshad an edgy start to his round, electing to play a provisional ball of the first tee. The hooked drive was found, and James went on to make par, he said he then got it figured out, he also spoke about the Eagle;

“After that, I kind of figured things out, after the first couple of holes, everything kind of felt pretty good. I got the putter going and hit a lot of 3-woods out there off of the tees. I kept it in play and gave myself a lot of chances. I actually hit a decent drive and it caught the left bunker. I had to lay up to like 90 yards and had a pretty good number and been working on my wedge game pretty good, so I felt pretty confident over it, and it kind of took a nice little kick for me and went right in the hole.”

Jeff holed out for Eagle on the first hole;

” I don’t ever remember holing out on the first hole any golf tournament, so it was pretty of cool. I kind of felt uncomfortable for some reason on the first tee, kind of pulled it and kind of had a tough little shot underneath the tree and hit a little low snap hook pitching wedge and it rolled about 30 feet and just died right in the center and I’m like, `Sweet.'”

Like this:

Ryan Moore , who lives in Las Vegas, won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday at TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada with a last round of -5 under par 66, and a tournament total -24 under par. This is Ryan’s second PGA Tour title, he finally shook of the challenge from Brendon de Jonge by grabbing a birdie on the par 5 16th hole, to take the outright lead and then finished with two pars for a -5 under par 66 and a one-stroke victory over Brendon. Ryan said the challenge from Brendon was tough;

” The last couple of days were tough, I was shot for shot with Brendon, and he was playing some great golf. I was able to make a birdie down the stretch when it mattered to hold him off at the end. He was playing great and he was hitting the ball really well, and he was making putts, I tried not to get too wrapped up into what he was doing really for the last two days. I just tried to keep my head and just keep hitting my golf shots, and playing the golf course how I wanted to play it and just give myself opportunities.”

Brendon de Jonge, from Zimbabwe had to settle for second place alone, he unfortunately managed to miss the fairway on the 560-yard par 5 16th hole. He eventually finished with a last round of -4 under par a 67 and a total of -23 under par. Brendon rued the missed fairway on 16, he said;

” Today, playing a little bit down breeze, all you’ve got to do is get one in the fairway, it’s almost a mid-iron in there, so that was definitely a turning point, you know, the bad tee shot there. I played nicely all week, hats off to Ryan. He played great, especially down the stretch. He made a couple tough shots in there on 17 and 18, and he pulled them off when he needed to.”

Jonas Blixt finished in third place alone, he had a disappointing last round of -1 under par 70, with a total score of -20 under par for the tournament.

An Acrimonious Aside

Justin Timberlake has been dropped as the Host of this tournament, it is suggested he was not visible enough for the Shriners people. Did not get involved enough with the day-to-day running and promotion of the Children’s Hospitals or the kids themselves Although Shriners grudgingly announced that Justin did;

“Fulfill his obligations to the tournament and helped raise several million dollars. He wasn’t able to generate greater interest in the tournament, and his star power wasn’t enough to lure bigger-name players to the event on a consistent basis”.

The tournament chairman, Raoul Frevel, was very specific about why they were not interested in continuing;

“Justin’s a wonderful person. But we tried everything we could to get him more involved with our kids and the hospitals. But it seemed that when the TV cameras weren’t on, he disappeared.”

Last week Justin was unresponsive with the local media at the Ryder Cup, and this week a Charity is suggesting that his volunteer participation was found wanting.

Not sure what the real deal is here, but Justin has been the host of the Shriners Hospitals for Kids for four years, it will be interesting to see who Shriners pick next as the Host, who will bring the “bigger name players” to the tournament.